Product Description Accompanied by an elephant, an ant, and a one-eyed monkey, Princess Aditi goes on a magical journey in search of a wayward dragon who holds the key to her future. From School Library Journal Grade 2-5-- A one-eyed monkey, an ant, and an elephant are traveling through India when the monkey's dream leads them to Princess Aditi. She has been promised to a dragon if he will stop scorching the countryside. The four overcome the dragon and convince him to make friends instead of fire. In a lackluster ending, the dragon is left to guard lion cubs while vague references are made to further adventures. All of the ingredients for an adventurous folk tale should be here, but excitement is neither built nor sustained. There are too many digressions from the journey's goal, whether encounters with creatures, menus of native foods, or moral arguments. Conflict is often bloody, surprising in a book that leans towards dragon persuasion rather than slaying. The adventurers largely maintain their individual outlooks, while the dragon perhaps too quickly agrees to work at friendship. Style is uneven, sometimes expressive, sometimes bland and slangy. Bold black-and-white illustrations are out of sync with some subjects: Aditi's grandparents look too young, and the fearful dragon sports a cheery smile, even when Aditi slices his toe. Dragon stories abound. E. Nesbit writes on the same non-slaying theme with more wit and economy in "The Last Dragon" in Five of Us and Madeline (Coward-McCann, 1958; o.p.). --Jane Saliers, Atlanta Public Library Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.